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But almost as the ink dried, the deal shoes, Boies made Wormsley squirm as he read embarrassing emails in which Citigroup colleagues called EMI’s boss ‘a thug’ and said it was ‘simply not acceptable’ that EMI was not cutting them in on deals.

The legal sparring is not pulling any punches in court. Boies’ team was last night pushing for the court to be told of the Citi dealmaker’s pay package at the giant bank.

Citi’s lead counsel Theodore (Ted) Wells, a partner at Paul Weiss, has already had his pop at Hands. Wells’ former clients have included Eliot Spitzer, former attorney general of New York and a number of high profile financiers, including Michael Milken and Frank Quattrone.

‘Isn’t it true that you brought this lawsuit because you wanted to blame someone else for your mistake in purchasing EMI?’ Wells asked Hands, a charge he denied. At heart this is a trial about the reputation of two men.

The stack of emails and testimony show that the pair conversed often about various deals. Boies is trying to establish that Wormsley knew he was selling his former friend a pup.

Yesterday he spent the morning trying to prove that Citi had rushed the sale in order to prevent Terra Firma from taking a better look at the books of EMI. Wells wants the jury to believe that Hands stretched too far into a business he did not know and is now trying to save his reputation – and his fortune – by blaming his former friend.

It was once a lucrative friendship. Hands said Citi had earned $850million in fees and interest off Terra Firma since 2002.

Now, they sit studiously ignoring each other’s glances as they wait for Jury number 3 to make its way down from the Bronx so the trial can begin. Known for his tact and discretion on the stand Wormsley cuts an unprepossessing figure.

Too quiet for the jury or the judge he is often asked to speak up. The jury seemed under-caffeinated and fidgeted as Hands’ lawyers went through email after email, projecting them on a giant screen, trying to establish his case.